Crisis in Australia
I was disappointed by Tracey Rowland’s account of Australian Catholicism (“Bearing the southern cross”, 18 February). We are facing a terrible crisis in the Australian Church, with the sexual abuse Royal Commission, and all she has to offer is an elitist fantasy of a bevy of bishops with Oxford degrees somehow rescuing us.

She’s right that we face a crisis of leadership. Almost all the present bishops were appointed by John Paul II and Benedict XVI and it is they who have let us down. The few who speak, such as Cardinal George Pell and Anthony Fisher, take a culture warrior approach to secular society, so it’s no wonder anger with Catholicism in the wider community is white hot. The only real leadership in the Australian Church comes from committed laity, particularly women, and priests who have stuck with their people.